5 Best Popular Posts Plugins for WordPress

The Excellent Results of Content Marketing as Told by the Big Companies

There is no denying that content marketing became a worldwide known trend over the last decades. That is not only because it is clean, clear and easy to use, but it also has amazing results as all the big companies have shown us.

Some of them turned to online marketing sooner rather than later. Others just went with the flow.

But how and, most importantly, why do the results of content marketing make such a big fuss in the online community? We wondered about that and during our search for the answer we stumbled upon these amazing stories from big companies.

Strategy is everything in the online system

Before you start blogging, you need to know who you’re writing for and if there is potential growth with your target audience. For example, if you own a corner supermarket, it is obvious that content marketing is not your answer and you need to turn to more traditional forms of advertising.

But if you own a tech company or a PR company, you can start brainstorming about your target public TODAY!

Take a page from Procter and Gamble. Throughout the years, they built a strong customer base by distributing a wide range of products, from batteries to deodorants or washing powder.

Having gained the trust of their audience, they started a blog designed especially for pet lovers, called Petside. By using this blog, they promoted training and behavior advice, pet products news and adoption resources.

“But we’re not all Procter and Gamble”, you might say. That’s true but the results of content marketing will not delay to appear if you have a well-known reputation. Being an established company will help you use online advertising to get your business to its fullest potential when it comes to publicity and recognition.

Plan ahead, like way ahead

…just until you reach the end.

It is very important to have a clear image about exactly what you want to do because otherwise you risk to lose yourself on the way. Then, you’ll just start going down and taking your business with you.

The first step is finding a big idea that will fit the domain of activity your business is specialized in.

Every big company succeeded with a big idea. Let’s take KRAFT for example. It is one of the first leaders in content marketing. And that’s because they saw potential where no one was looking.

Starting kraftfoods.com was the decision that changed the course of the company. By the time they were writing about recipes and the food industry, most of their competitors didn’t have a website to begin with. Not to mention that the term “content marketing” wasn’t even a thing.

Another example of the effective results of content marketing is Colgate. Colgate started an online platform based on Oral and Dental Health Resource center. It has videos, interactive guides and over 400 articles. If you think about it, they were very smart people.

They used their knowledge in the field to give people valuable information about their products and how to use them.

Bottom line, even a small but professional company can use its experience and expertise to create blogs and eBooks in an organised and effective way that reaches a target audience.

Step 3: Blitzkrieg!

Please, don’t pull out a knife. We’re talking about an online context here. This means figuring out exactly what your public needs and then giving it to them by using a very effective surprise element.

It’s all about Supply & Demand.

Most tech companies adopted this strategy, starting with Intel and IBM. Of course, it’s amazing to buy a new computer, but wouldn’t it be more fun to actually know what it does and how many things you can use it for?

This is the question which the people at Intel asked themselves. The result was IQ, a blog where employees use their knowledge to help the general public.

Don’t worry, you won’t find the next Relativity Theory in there, but they turned an ordinary blog into an awesome marketing tool by giving something useful in exchange.

Marriott did the exact same thing. Launching a new global platform, the hotel company intends to publish relevant entertaining content for its clients and for the general public that is interested in tourism.

Of course, being Marriott they want to become the best. The thing is, they might actually pull it off.

Let’s think about it for a second. Is there anyone who’s not thinking about travelling to a beautiful country at least 365 times a year?

Udemy is a teaching platform. It has courses about everything. From Java Programming to Yoga. It is a big success story because it came at the right time, at the right place. Some of its courses are free. Some are not. But that doesn’t stop millions of students to log in everyday.

Udemy is the perfect example of how content can be recycled. You write something really good, you put it out there and then you wait. When the right time comes, you could reuse the information.

But big brands like Udemy had to make the decision weather or not to outsource content creation. Let’s find out how they got the best answer.